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  • Meet the Falls Church woman who is a cherry blossom super fan – WTOP News

    Meet the Falls Church woman who is a cherry blossom super fan – WTOP News

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    Jenny Blakemore has lived in the D.C. area since she was 10 years old, but really fell in love with the cherry blossoms while working in Georgetown in her 20s.

    Jenny Blakemore and her husband Chris got married at the Christ Church in Georgetown in 2014.
    (Micahl Wyckoff)

    Micahl Wyckoff

    The Blakemore’s wedding was cherry blossom themed: “We had all pink up lighting and cherry blossom name tags and cherry blossoms flowers, a cherry blossom cake, cherry blossom invitations. Everything, you name it.”
    (Courtesy Jenny Blakemore)

    Courtesy Jenny Blakemore

    Blakemore’s bridesmaids all wore pink on her wedding day.
    (Courtesy Jenny Blakemore)

    Courtesy Jenny Blakemore

    Jenny Blakemore and her husband Chris married in a cherry blossom-themed ceremony.
    (Liam Gideon)

    Liam Gideon

    Jenny intends to pass her love for cherry blossoms down to her three daughters.
    (Courtesy Jenny Blakemore)

    Courtesy Jenny Blakemore

    Jenny Blakemore has lived in the D.C. area since she was 10 years old, but really fell in love with the cherry blossoms while working in Georgetown in her 20s.

    “I would make a tradition to go every year to the Tidal Basin. And I would go to the Cathedral. I would go to all the parks in the city that I could to see the different cherry blossoms,” she told WTOP.

    She got engaged under the cherry blossoms by the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, then got married the following year during peak bloom in Georgetown.

    “We had all pink up lighting and cherry blossom name tags and cherry blossoms flowers, a cherry blossom cake, cherry blossom invitations. Everything, you name it,” she said. “Nobody was surprised that I would have a pink wedding.”

    Blakemore and her husband grew up together in Oakton, a neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia, before settling into a house in Falls Church that she is steadily making more pink and cherry-blossom themed.

    “My husband’s about to paint my kitchen table pink. You know, there’s a lot of pink,” she laughed. “My husband is in real estate … I don’t know if he wants me to paint everything pink.”

    Blakemore never misses a peak bloom. She’s urging everyone in the D.C. area to get out and see the cherry blossoms this week.

    “It may be a little chilly, but it’s gonna be magical outside,” she said. “It’s gonna be a beautiful week to come see the cherry blossoms.”

    And if you ever do miss peak bloom, Blakemore says that isn’t the only opportunity to see D.C.’s famed blossoms.

    “If you miss the peak bloom, you can still come two weeks later and see magical cherry blossoms,” she added.

    This year, she and her husband will take their three daughters to the Cherry Blossom Festival opening ceremony and the kite festival. They’re also walking with the Girl Scouts in the cherry blossom parade.

    “I’m passing it on to my children. And hopefully they’ll pass it on to their children,” she said.

    Her love for cherry blossoms will also live on through the cherry trees she plants each year. She’s already planted two cherry trees at her Falls Church home and has planted more trees throughout the region.

    “I planted a tree at my daughter’s school last year with the Girl Scouts,” Blakemore said. “And I planted a tree in Georgetown during the 100 year anniversary with the Cherry Blossom Festival. And that was a lot of fun.”

    Blakemore plans to continue to celebrate the natural beauty of the cherry blossom trees each year and how they are now intertwined with her “love story” on her wedding anniversary.

    “It’s such a beautiful thing and they spark joy,” she said. “That’s why I love the cherry blossoms, because they bring beauty to the city.”

    WTOP’s Emily Venezky contributed to this story.

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    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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  • DC’s iconic cherry blossoms are enjoying the cooler temperatures – WTOP News

    DC’s iconic cherry blossoms are enjoying the cooler temperatures – WTOP News

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    The beloved cherry blossom trees have reached peak bloom and the chilly temperatures this week in D.C. will help the famous flowers last longer.

    Last week’s unseasonably warm weather helped D.C.’s cherry blossoms reach peak bloom ahead of schedule, the second-earliest peak bloom on record. Now, a burst of cooler temperatures will also help the famous flowers to last longer.

    “This really is absolutely the ideal conditions you would ask for once you get to peak bloom,” said National Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst.

    Warm weather speeds up the bloom cycle, and the arrival of cooler temperatures in D.C. will help the blossoms stick around, Litterst said.

    “Those blossoms are eventually going to be replaced by leaves, and that would happen much quicker if the warm temperatures had stayed,” he told WTOP. “Now that the temperatures have dropped a bit and cooled off, we’ll see the blossoms on for a little bit longer before they’re replaced by leaves.”

    More Cherry Blossom Festival News

    Peak bloom typically lasts for seven to 10 days, but Litterst said that could stretch to two weeks this year.

    “We’re not going to have wind. We have a little bit of rain, but not much. No severe weather that’s going to bring the petals down early,” he said. “Could be by the end of next week, we’re still seeing blossoms.”

    If you’d like to see the cherry blossom trees in person, Litterst recommends coming around 10 or 11 a.m. on a weekday morning for better parking and smaller crowds.

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    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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  • DC-area lawmakers consider bill that would prohibit TikTok in the US – WTOP News

    DC-area lawmakers consider bill that would prohibit TikTok in the US – WTOP News

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    A bill currently advancing in the House could ban TikTok in the U.S. as lawmakers said that the popular social media platform poses a national security threat.

    Close to 170 million Americans use the social media app TikTok, but lawmakers say the popular social media platform poses a threat to national security.

    “We’re at a moment in time when almost half of young people in America get their news from Tik Tok,” said Virginia Sen. Mark Warner. “And there is clear evidence that the Chinese Communist Party could manipulate the algorithm to manipulate the type of news that these young people could be getting.”

    New legislation endorsed by President Joe Biden on Thursday would give Chinese company ByteDance, which owns TikTok, 180 days to divest the app, or else TikTok would be prohibited in the U.S. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson also supports the bill and has indicated it would soon come up for a full vote in the House.

    “Under the current structure, a lot of personal data of Americans is now potentially flowing back to the (People’s Republic of China), to the Chinese Communist Party,” said Maryland Congressman John Sarbanes. “And that can be used against us. It can be weaponized against us. We want to undo that link.”

    Both the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have warned that TikTok owner ByteDance could share user data — such as browsing history, location and biometric identifiers — with China’s authoritarian government. TikTok said it has never done that and wouldn’t do so if asked. The U.S. government also hasn’t provided evidence of that happening.

    “We are doing what we can in Congress to make sure that you can use TikTok without concern that there’s some danger that your data is going to end up in the wrong place,” Sarbanes said.

    If enacted, the bill would effectively ban TikTok and other ByteDance apps from being available in Apple or Google app stores or on web hosting services in the U.S.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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  • Transportation audit outlines problems and solutions for Prince George’s County schools – WTOP News

    Transportation audit outlines problems and solutions for Prince George’s County schools – WTOP News

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    In Prince George’s County, Maryland, the hiring process for school bus drivers is long and inefficient, taking up to 16 weeks, which results in a large percentage of drivers dropping out. That’s one of the findings of a new audit.

    In Prince George’s County, Maryland, the hiring process for school bus drivers is long and inefficient, taking up to 16 weeks, which results in a large percentage of drivers dropping out.

    That’s one of 12 key findings outlined in a comprehensive transportation audit, presented Thursday at a Prince George’s County Public Schools Board of Education meeting.

    The audit also found unreliable technology, school buses that were nearly half empty, and unsatisfactory communication with families.

    “My son’s bus has gotten him to school 30 minutes or more late every day for over 100 days. That’s totaling more than 50 hours of missed instruction for him and his classmates. We’ve been complaining about it for months, dozens of tickets submitted, no meaningful response, and you lecture us about attendance,” said one father at the board meeting. “You have actionable recommendations in front of you to save millions of dollars and solve the problem. You have no more excuses. Fix it.”

    The audit made 12 recommendations for long term solutions. The first recommendation is to shift bell times later at some schools, which would eliminate up to 119 buses and save an estimated $16.9 million a year. Other recommendations include consolidating bus stops and increasing the use of vans or sedans instead of buses.

    PGCPS Superintendent Millard House II will present his implementation plan at the next board meeting.

    Read a summary of the audit here, and the full audit and analysis here.

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    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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  • U. Md. researchers examine how naptime impacts brain development in preschoolers – WTOP News

    U. Md. researchers examine how naptime impacts brain development in preschoolers – WTOP News

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    When should young children drop their afternoon nap? University of Maryland researchers are looking to better understand why the transition happens. 

    When should young children drop their afternoon nap? University of Maryland researchers are looking to better understand why the transition happens. 

    “We know sleep is very good for the brain, and it’s very good for our memories,” said University of Maryland professor Tracy Riggins. “Preschoolers are sponges that soak up a bunch of information about the world. They learn so much every day. Isn’t it interesting that that’s also the same time they’re transitioning out of the afternoon nap?”

    Riggins and her colleague Rebecca Spencer, from UMass Amherst, are conducting a first-of-its-kind study on preschoolers, sleep, memory and the brain.

    Riggins said children typically drop the nap between two and eight years of age. They want to understand why the transition happens, and why it might occur at different points in time for different kids.

    “We hope it’s a first step in understanding those intricate relations between memory, sleep, and the brain,” Riggins said. “We know they’re tied together, but we don’t actually know how they’re tied together.”

    She hopes the research provides more answers for educators, day care providers and parents. Riggins said there are currently no scientifically-based recommendations for napping in preschoolers, which is why daycares handle naptime differently.

    “Some of them have a mandatory two-hour rest period. Others have a 45-minute optional rest period, and some have no rest period at all,” she said. “And they might not remember anything from that class if they’re not able to take a nap, which will help them consolidate the information.”

    Riggins says they are looking to recruit about 180 children, ages 3-5, to participate in this study. Those children should be napping on average five days a week or more. Researchers would measure memory and brain activity while the kids are awake as well as when they’re sleeping. Participants will be compensated.

    If you’re interested in learning more about the study, visit the university’s Neurocognitive Development Lab website.

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    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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